Luke 24:1-12
(sermon note:
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a man and son who were driving to church on Easter morning. Out of nowhere, this human-sized bunny jumped out of nowhere into the road and the dad had no choice but to run it over. They hopped out of the car, crept up to the rabbit, and the son franticly said, “Daddy! You killed the Easter bunny!” The man thought to himself and then said, “Don’t worry, I know exactly what to do.” He went to the trunk of the car and pulled out a spray can. He shook it up and sprayed the dead Easter bunny with it. After a few minutes, the Easter bunny popped up to its feet, grabbed its basket, and hopped down the road before it stopped to turn around and wave. It hopped a little bit more and then turned around and waved again. It kept repeating this until it hopped out of sight. The son exclaimed, “Daddy! What was that!?” The dad showed his son the can. The label read, “Hair spray — brings new life to hair, gives permanent wave.”
And that, my friends, is the perfect Easter morning joke! Not only does the Easter bunny get killed but he’s resurrected too! A perfect smash-up of the secular and the religious on this most holy of days! Not to mention the untimely demise of a secular icon. The age-old battle between secular and religious and the secular actually loses…what better outcome is there than that?! You know I’m a little predisposed to fight on the side of faith and religion, right? DEATH TO THE EASTER BUNNY!! I suppose that’s a little unfair to the Easter Bunny. After all, he does bring joy and sweets to countless children around the world just little Santa does at Christmas. I can’t fault them for playing on the side of the secular. They have good purposes I suppoooose. I just wish they weren’t set up against our champion, Jesus Christ, the greatest and most powerful champion of the world. Jesus didn’t need no can of hairspray to bring himself back to life! Jesus has powers the likes of which Santa and the Easter Bunny couldn’t even compare! Jesus has powers over life and death! Jesus has powers to heal the unhealable, reach the unreachable, save the unsavable! Oh sure, Santa can somehow deliver gifts to all the children of the world in a single night but that’s a mere parlor trick compared to what Jesus can do. The Easter Bunny and his multitude of chocolaty baskets for the children? Paltry in comparison to the gifts of healing of salvation. Jesus is a far greater champion, and I gladly fight on his side!
Aaaah, I feel better now! What else is there to say?! Oh right, celebrating Jesus’ resurrection…that’s why we’ve gathered here this morning. Friends, Jesus has risen, he has risen indeed! What a joyful occasion to come together and celebrate how Jesus conquered death once and for all! Death can be a terribly frightening event for so many living things, especially living things with self-awareness and an understanding of mortality like us humans. We know that there is a permanence to death. When living things die, they are forever changed. They’re no longer in the form we once knew them in and it’s easy to believe they are lost in time and space. Because they no longer exist in our time and space, then they must no longer exist at all, or so reason would have us believe. But guess what? Reason has its limitations. Reason is an ever-evolving consciousness and awareness. We know things about ourselves and the world around us today that we didn’t know 100 years ago. Our reason is constantly growing and adapting to a constantly growing and adapting world. And say what you will about death, but we really don’t know about what happens when we die. Even the small glimpses we get from people who briefly die and come back to us can only give us glimpses. Jesus himself hasn’t fully revealed all that awaits us in death. But what he has revealed through his own resurrection is that death is not permanent. Death is a mere gateway into new life. None of us is lost in time and space. Friends, there IS life after death! Jesus’ resurrection most plainly taught us this! And this is what we are celebrating today, the new life that can arise from death.
The apostle, Paul, reflected on Jesus’ death and resurrection and gave us powerful wisdom to take comfort in. In his letter to the Romans, he wrote, “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (6:4) And in his second letter to the Corinthians, he said, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (5:17) After three days, Jesus rose from the dead and in so doing he became the new creation, the new life. He plainly illustrated in his own death and resurrection that there is life after death.
Santa and the Easter Bunny, as joy-inspiring as they are, can’t touch the joy inspired by Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is great joy in new life after death! In his vision as conveyed in the book of Revelation, John saw Jesus sitting on his heavenly throne and wrote, “And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (21:5) Jesus is making all things new today in and through his resurrection. Let us rejoice in it and give thanks for it! Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
